


in arcadia

by orphan_account



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Werewolf AU, anna no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 03:11:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1763773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Elsa is a werewolf instead of an Ice Queen. Her curse hits someone else. This had been languishing in my drafts forever, so- here it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in arcadia

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by [this gorgeous piece of art](http://gingerhaole.tumblr.com/post/82162959507/guardianoffrost-oh-hans-if-only-there-was) by gingerhaole on tumblr.

One moment Elsa was laughing her husky wolf-laugh, mouth wide open, teeth flashing in the dappled sunlight, and the next moment an arrow had buried itself in her shoulder. She reeled back with the impact before planting her feet firmly above Anna’s body. Red blood seeped out into her white fur. Anna reached out for the arrow, hand slipping on the dark blood, and then jerked back as another arrow embedded itself in her sister’s chest.

"Elsa!" she screamed. She scrambled out from under her sister’s body, grabbing her bow and quiver as she went.

She had nocked an an arrow and fired, ignoring the slick blood on her hands, almost before she had time to think. She caught a glimpse of something moving below, hidden behind a screen of wild hawthorn, and loosed another arrow.

A man’s voice cried out, and the movement stopped. Anna turned to Elsa, heart in her mouth, and found Elsa worrying the shaft in her shoulder with her teeth.

 _Anna_ , Elsa said, and pulled back to let her assess the wound.

 _Pull it out,_ Elsa said. Anna gritted her teeth and wrapped a sticky hand around the arrow in her sister’s chest. Elsa grunted and laid her ears flat, but made no sound. Anna tugged on the arrow, grimacing at the blood pouring out of her sister’s body, and then braced herself and pulled. The arrow came out slowly, tearing muscle as it went, and the tug of Elsa’s flesh on the arrowhead was sickening. The shaft snapped before she could pull it all the way out. Elsa was shaking under her hand.

 _The other one_ , Elsa said.

"But-" Anna pressed a finger to the gaping wound in Elsa’s chest, probing, and jerked it away when her sister growled.

 _I’ll deal with it. Get the other one,_ Elsa said.

The shaft in her shoulder came out whole, although it dragged out chunks of flesh along with it, and left a gushing hole the size of Anna’s fist behind. Even as she watched, the wound began to knit itself closed. Elsa swiped her tongue over it, and then pointed her bloodied nose downwind.

 _Go find him_ , she said.

Anna wiped her hands on her skirts, succeeding only in smearing the blood further up her arms, and crashed through the undergrowth towards their attacker. When she ducked under the hawthorn, heart pounding, she found Prince Hans sprawled out on the ground before her, bow at his side, with two of her arrows quivering in his chest.

"Hans!" she gasped, running to his side. He blinked, and lifted his head from his fur collar to look at her. She dropped to her knees, arrows clattering in her quiver, and eased a supportive hand under his neck.

"There was a wolf," he said, weakly. His teeth were red, and his pulse was pounding wildly under her hand. "I was-" he coughed, face twisted with pain, and Anna’s heart stopped when blood foamed at the corner of his lips.

"Wolf-" he gasped, again, and groaned. Anna touched the arrow in his chest and pulled her hand away when he cried out. Blood was running down the front of his fine white coat, more seeping out with every pained breath he took.

"Hans!" she said. His eyes flicked from the arrows to her face, confused and disoriented, and then slipped shut. She forced down a sudden lump in her throat and blinked back her tears, and set his coppery head back on the ground.

"Come on," she said. "We have to get you home." She unstrung her bow and slung it over her shoulder with shaking hands, and then crouched behind him. When she slid her hands behind his shoulders and tried to move him, he was dead weight in her grasp.

"Come _on_ ," Anna said, tugging at him. He slid a few inches across the ground and then groaned in pain, still unconscious. Anna dropped him and dashed tears from her eyes. She couldn’t possibly carry him all the way back to the castle.

 _Let me help_ , Elsa said, as she pushed through the undergrowth. _I can carry him._ The wound in her chest was still bleeding, sluggishly, as her body worked to eject the arrowhead.

Hans groaned again when Elsa took his collar in her mouth, and, with Anna’s help, heaved him onto her shoulders. He was breathing shallowly, and it sounded as if every hard-won breath was costing him dearly.

 _The woodsman,_ Elsa said. She shrugged Hans into place on her back, and set off down the mountain.

The woodsman was closer than the palace, she was right about that. And he was as much a wolf as her sister, so there would be fewer questions.

"Stay alive," she said to Hans, as they plunged into the woods.

 

+

 

Fewer questions, of course, didn’t mean _no_ questions.

"What the hell?"

The woodsman was standing on his porch, ax slung over his shoulder, with a freshly-cut pile of firewood stacked behind him. The block he had been splitting was sitting forgotten on the ground.

"Can we- uh- we need your cabin," Anna said, forcing herself to stand up straight. No time to be polite.

"Uh-" the woodsman said, and then Elsa snarled at him, lifting a lip to show her teeth, and he set his ax down and opened the front door.

"Thanks," Anna said, as they brushed past him. Apparently werewolves could pull rank. That was good to know.

The woodsman helped Anna to ease Hans from Elsa’s back onto his low bed, and then, with a sidelong glance at Elsa, he slipped out of the cabin.

 _They’ll come looking for him,_ Elsa said. She had curled up in a corner near the fire. The trek from the mountain to the cabin, normally an easy walk, had drained her. She nosed at the red patch on her chest, and then buried her nose in her tail and closed her eyes. Anna reached out to touch a twitching ear, thanking her, and then she turned back to her Prince.

"Please be all right," she said, kneeling beside the bed. Hans was pale now, face tinged with gray, and his chest rattled with every breath he took. More blood had stained his coat.

"Please," Anna said, dropping her voice. She could see the woodsman outside, pacing back and forth on the porch. His hair was a golden halo in the late afternoon light.

Anna brushed a stray hair from Hans’ forehead.

"I love you," she whispered. "I don’t know you very well, I know, but I think I’m in love with you."

He didn’t react. She felt for a pulse, and for a terrifying moment she found nothing- but it was there, thready and weak, but still there. She let her head drop onto the mattress beside him. She had her hunting knife; she could cut the fletching off of the arrows and try to remove them. But he wouldn’t survive that kind of surgery, and Anna didn’t know how to keep him alive. She could send the woodsman for help, but, looking at her fiance’s white face, she knew he wouldn’t return in time.

There was one more thing.

One last chance to save him. He might never forgive her, and it was as likely to kill him as it was to save him- but it was all she had left. She traced his jawline, fondly, and looked back to her sister.

"You have to bite him," Anna said. 

Elsa curled her lip and snarled. 

"Elsa! Please!" Anna said, curling her fingers in Hans' hair. "He's dying," she said, "please don't make me lose another person I-" 

Her eyes were itchy with unshed tears, and she blinked the moisture out of her eyes. Hans was as still as death underneath her hands. 

Elsa made an unhappy noise in the back of her throat, and nosed forward until she was staring Anna in the eyes. 

_You have no idea what you're asking,_ she said. 

And then, before Anna could react, she pushed Anna's hands aside with her head and closed her jaws on Hans' shoulder. His face creased with agony and then went slack when Elsa released him. 

"Hans?" Anna said. There was no response. 

_It will take the whole night_ , Elsa said. Her mouth was lined with red. _Sleep_. 

Anna stared at Hans a little longer, until she could see his chest rising and falling with each breath he took. It was slight, but it was there. 

_Sleep_ , Elsa said, nudging Anna's back. Anna followed her, numbly, to the corner of the hut, and they settled into their customary pile. Anna tried to keep her eyes on Hans, but the warmth of Elsa's fur lulled her into a gentle sleep. 

 

+

 

 _Anna_ , Elsa said. She sounded worried. Anna jerked awake at the tone of her voice. 

_Get out,_ Elsa said. The fur on her back was ridged high, and her lips had curled back from her teeth. 

"Why?" Anna asked. When she looked over at Hans' bed, she found him staring at her intently. If not for the bloodstains on his clothing, he looked as if he'd never been hurt at all. 

_Go_ , Elsa said. Hans' eyes flickered to her and then dropped back to Anna. There was a ring of yellow around his pupils that hadn't been there before. 

"Elsa," Anna said, eyes fixed on Hans, "it worked." 

_Go_ , Elsa said. Hans reached out towards Anna, and she let him take her by the hand. 

"No," Anna said, twining her fingers in Hans'. There was something magnetic about his attention. She wanted more. 

"She's staying," Hans said. Anna blushed, but let him reel her in closer, until she was sitting beside him. He wrapped an arm around her waist. He had never spoken to either of them like that before, always the very model of princely politesse to herself and Elsa. 

He buried his nose in her neck and took a deep breath. 

Elsa let out a warning growl. 

"Elsa," Anna said, "it's fine. He would never hurt me." She squirmed a little under Hans' hands, and pressed herself closer to his side. 

Elsa let out a sharp huff of breath, angry and frustrated, and slowly backed out of the cabin. 

"It is okay, right, Hans?" Anna said, turning to him anxiously. He was watching Elsa as she left, and his gaze didn't leave the doorway for several minutes. 

"What did she do to me?" Hans asked. "What happened?" He shuddered and shook himself, a ripple of muscle from neck to hip. 

"It sort of runs in the family?" Anna said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it- and then you shot her and then I shot you and now you're a wolf- but-" She tugged Hans' shirt open with one hand, exposing a smooth expanse of unblemished skin. 

"See?" Anna said, "All better! Sort of. I'm sorry. I mean it's only a problem once a m-" 

Hans pressed a hand to the skin of his chest, trapping her fingers beneath his. He was looking down at her fondly, but there was something in his gaze that sent a shiver down her spine. 

"Your sister gave me a gift," he said softly. He smiled, and his canines glinted. 

Anna blinked at him, and crossed her legs underneath her skirts. His legs were very solid where they pressed up against her body. 

"Runs in the family?" Hans asked, and she nodded breathlessly. He tipped her chin up with one clawed finger. His eyes were very beautiful, she thought. 

"We'll have to test it out," Hans said, lips ghosting over hers, "won't we, Anna?" 

"Yes," Anna breathed. He pressed her down onto the bed and she felt her heart leap into her throat.

He had been almost perfect _before_ , but now that he was a wolf- she reached up to touch his teeth- 

Oh, she thought, he was _perfect._


End file.
